Abdul Ghafour (Mullah Abdul Ghafour, Taliban commander)

Mullah Abdul Ghafour is a Taliban commander that ISAF forces claim was killed by an airstrike on February 4 2007.cite news
url=http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7006366366
title=NATO Says Airstrike Killed Senior Taliban Leader Abdul Ghafour
author=Matthew Borghese
publisher=All Headline News
date=February 5 2007
accessdate=2007-02-05] cite news
url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/02/05/afghanistan.battle/
title=NATO names 'killed' Taliban chief
publisher=CNN
date=February 5 2007
accessdate=2007-02-05]

Identity

United States Department of Defense had reported the death of an individual they identified as Maulvi Abdul Ghafour, who they also described as a Taliban leader -- leading a unit of approximately company size. Guantanamo intelligence analysts accused a Guantanamo captive named Juma Din of having served as a bodyguard for a Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin leader named Haji Abdul Ghafour. [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/ARB_Transcript_Set_9_21017-21351..pdf Summarized transcript (.pdf)] , from Juma Din's "Administrative Review Board hearing" - page 261]

Haji, Mullah and Maulvi are all honorifics -- not part of the names of the individuals in question.

The Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin is a faction of the Hezb-e-Islami party, lead by former Prime Minister Hekmatyar Gulbuddin. Although Gulbuddin's group is reported to have shared a similar fundamentalist, jihadist ideology to that of the Taliban, and al Qaida, they opposed to the Taliban, while it was in power.Gulbuddin's faction is reported to have allied with the Taliban, following the American invasion, because they felt more strongly about Afghanistan being occupied by foreign invaders than they felt about Afghanistan being under the control of the Taliban.

Maulvi Abdul Ghafour is reported to have been held in Guantanamo, to have convinced the intelligence analysts there that he was not a member of the Taliban. However, these reports are at odds with the information on the official lists of captive's names that the DoD released on April 20 2006, and May 15 2006.

The two official lists of Guantanamo captives lists two individuals named "Abdul Ghafour" Guantanamo captive 954; and "Abdul Ghaffar" Guantanamo captive 1032. These Guantanamo captives were still in Guantanamo when American officials were already claiming that Maulvi Abdul Ghafour had bee released, and killed in action.

Occupation of Musa Qala, February 2007

A unit of several hundred Taliban soldiers occupied Musa Qala on February 2 2007.cite news
url=http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav020507.shtml
title=Taliban takeover of town could mark start of military offensive
author=Ahmed Rashid
publisher=Eurasianet
date=February 5 2007
accessdate=2007-02-05] "Eurasianet" reports: "The attack laid waste to an agreement there, brokered last fall by Richards and local tribal elders, under which NATO troops agreed to withdraw from the town in return for a commitment by local Afghan leaders to oppose the Taliban."

British General David J. Richards, an expert at negotiation, is the outgoing NATO commander. Eurasianet reports that the new NATO commander, American General Dan McNeill, opposes the kind of local agreements that Richards favored, and speculated that the aerial bombardment that was reported to have killed Mullah Abdul Ghafour was a sign of McNeill's more aggressive, less conciliatory approach.:"Officials in several European countries have quietly expressed concern about placing an American general in charge of the NATO force. Richards tried to create a less harsh, more economic-development-oriented identity for NATO in Afghanistan, as compared to the ‘‘kicking-down-doors’’ image that US forces have. Many local analysts expect NATO forces to embrace a more aggressive stance under McNeill, who is believed to oppose the type of local peace arrangements that Richards promoted. The danger at this point is that an overly aggressive NATO force in Afghanistan could alienate Afghans, and thus cause the Taliban’s support base to grow."

ummary executions in January 2001

The Afghan Justice Project described the execution of hundreds of civilians when the Taliban reoccupied Yakaolong:cite web
url=http://afghanistanjusticeproject.org/warcrimesandcrimesagainsthumanity19782001.pdf
title=War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity: 1978-2001
publisher=Afghan Justice Project
accessdate=February 5
accessyear=2007] :"The massacre of non-combatants in Yakaolang began on Sunday, January 7, 2001. . Most killings were conducted on January 8. Taliban forces remained in the area until January 22, and carried out more summary executions that day. The total number killed during this period is at least 178 who have been provisionally identified, of whom 175 were civilians and 3 were military hors de combat. It is has not been possible to obtain a more precise figure because of the difficulty in getting reliable, comprehensive lists of people killed in the mass arrests and firing squads."

The Afghan Justice Project identified Mullah Shahzad, Mullah Abdul Sattar, and Mullah Abdul Ghaffar as the three most senior Taliban responsible for the alleged massacre.cite web
url=http://afghanistanjusticeproject.org/warcrimesandcrimesagainsthumanity19782001.pdf
title=War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity: 1978-2001
publisher=Afghan Justice Project
accessdate=February 5
accessyear=2007] It reported::"Mullah Abdul Ghaffar was another Qandahari Pushtun Talib, not known in the area, who acted as a field commander during the operation. He had responsibility for the upper Darra Ali area and supervised the search operations there during January 8. During the operation, Taliban in Kabul informed the researcher the Ahmadullah had a coordinating role, for the simultaneous operations in Saighan, Kamard and Yakaolang. Already from January 7, the units in Yakaolang were expecting his arrival. Although he may not have physically gone to Yakaolang until the Tuesday or the Wednesday, when the main killing was over, he clearly had senior level responsibility in the command structure from the inception of the operation."

References